Could T-Mobile (U.S.) new global plan doom the global SIM card business? - Page 2

JPSmith · 14-02-2015, 19:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu

You can get the TMobile deal from harbormobile.com for $30 a month.

Not the same deal; harbor mobile (according to their website) charges $25 a month for voice roaming outside the U.S., in addition to the .20 per minute.

snidely · 12-10-2013, 18:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by fsotirop

but i don't think this plan is offered to foreigners

The problem is that to get a postpaid account you have to pass a credit check. That wouldn't be possible, I don't think, for foreigners. Maybe if you worked for a large company, they could qualify and get the account in their name. IOW, it's not the fact you are foreign is the problem - it's the fact your name wouldn't appear on a U.S. credit report.
I don't know if you could post a deposit.
I'll make some inquiry in a couple weeks once this whole thing is in operation. I'll be testing it out in China and Hong Kong 10/26-11/8.

gkeeper · 12-10-2013, 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by fsotirop

but i don't think this plan is offered to foreigners

If the deal was open to Overseas applicants , is it not the same as the AT&T deal where your Sim has to hit a US tower at least once every 6 weeks, therefore rendering it useless for foreigners unless they travel to the US every 4-6 weeks. These Guys are not stupid i am sure there will be caveats somewhere in the T&cS

snidely · 13-10-2013, 03:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkeeper

If the deal was open to Overseas applicants , is it not the same as the AT&T deal where your Sim has to hit a US tower at least once every 6 weeks, therefore rendering it useless for foreigners unless they travel to the US every 4-6 weeks. These Guys are not stupid i am sure there will be caveats somewhere in the T&cS

I didn't see it on their site, but in a news report. You do have to "hit" a TM tower every 6 weeks and every 3 month period (12 weeks) half the time has to be in the U.S. I'll try and confirm that.
Doesn't the ATT deal just apply to data and not also voice and text?
OTH - Forgetting about the unlimited data - wouldn't the 20¢/min. incoming/outgoing be a money maker? I wonder what they have to pay the foreign carriers for airtime? What do they pay the carrier for text and data?

Stu · 12-10-2013, 19:17

Www.hushed.com.

davidtheprof · 13-10-2013, 19:29

could use Keku for a very limited circle of friends and family - you have to register their phones on your account, so you can give them a local phone number for them that will connect with your mobile when you are traveling in their country.

DRNewcomb · 19-10-2013, 13:53

I just received a letter from T-Mobile informing me that my old grandfathered plan will be converted to a very favorable new Select Value plan, which I presume includes the new roaming package. I must say that this will probably greatly reduce any need on my part for local or international prepaids. I'll still keep myTelnaMobile and Mobal SIMs as backups but but doubt they'll see much use.

snidely · 19-10-2013, 20:14

DRN -
TM says they now have thousands of old plans out there and hope to get that number below 50 in the next few months. I would double check that the new plan they are giving you (probably better than the rest of us have) does include the new "free" intl roaming. In one place they say new plans after March 2013 are included, another place they say "Simple Choice or New Classic" are included.
TM is definitely not all together on rolling this out. It is supposed to start in 2 days on Monday Oct. 20 - and diff. parts of their web site have diff. info. One page says it doesn't start until Oct 31. Other pages say hi-speed data options are available - but they haven't posted the exact packages and prices, yet. (The free data they claim is capped at 128Kbs. which is fine for email and Google maps.)
I'll report on all this next month. Will use it in China and Hong Kong Oct 27 - Nov 8.

Stu · 24-10-2013, 15:52

Over on Flyertalk's tech forum, there are a couple of people who have used their throttled data and said that it was good enough for Google Maps, cautious music streaming, and email.

Depending on its latency (remember it is throttled HSPA, not true EDGE), you probably could do VOIP Over 3g with the 729 codec.

jeffharris · 11-03-2014, 01:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu

Over on Flyertalk's tech forum, there are a couple of people who have used their throttled data and said that it was good enough for Google Maps, cautious music streaming, and email.

Depending on its latency (remember it is throttled HSPA, not true EDGE), you probably could do VOIP Over 3g with the 729 codec.

You can. ive used Line2 and Skype with 80% no troubles. not perfect, but free.

its very important to note it is throttled HSPA. my local TMo people call it EDGE when i hear them discuss it to customers. its DEFINITELY not the EDGE network. the EDGE network almost anywhere, US especially, barely works at even 20KBs. in about 10 countries in Europe and Asia Ive been to the klast couple months, it always throttles exactly to 128Kbs.

	(#5)
Stu (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Guru Posts: 1,091 Join Date: 11 Feb 2004 Location: Detroit (formerly Dubai) Country:	12-10-2013, 19:17 Www.hushed.com.

	(#6)
davidtheprof (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 159 Join Date: 05 Jun 2011 Country:	13-10-2013, 19:29 could use Keku for a very limited circle of friends and family - you have to register their phones on your account, so you can give them a local phone number for them that will connect with your mobile when you are traveling in their country.

	(#7)
DRNewcomb (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Professionist Posts: 1,465 Join Date: 27 Feb 2004 Location: Mississippi, USA Country:	19-10-2013, 13:53 I just received a letter from T-Mobile informing me that my old grandfathered plan will be converted to a very favorable new Select Value plan, which I presume includes the new roaming package. I must say that this will probably greatly reduce any need on my part for local or international prepaids. I'll still keep myTelnaMobile and Mobal SIMs as backups but but doubt they'll see much use.

	(#8)
snidely (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 451 Join Date: 09 May 2005 Location: Berkeley, California and Miami Country:	19-10-2013, 20:14 DRN - TM says they now have thousands of old plans out there and hope to get that number below 50 in the next few months. I would double check that the new plan they are giving you (probably better than the rest of us have) does include the new "free" intl roaming. In one place they say new plans after March 2013 are included, another place they say "Simple Choice or New Classic" are included. TM is definitely not all together on rolling this out. It is supposed to start in 2 days on Monday Oct. 20 - and diff. parts of their web site have diff. info. One page says it doesn't start until Oct 31. Other pages say hi-speed data options are available - but they haven't posted the exact packages and prices, yet. (The free data they claim is capped at 128Kbs. which is fine for email and Google maps.) I'll report on all this next month. Will use it in China and Hong Kong Oct 27 - Nov 8. Make use of T-M's UMA/wifi free calling from any place in the world with access to wifi. I use an LG G6, wife an S7) A/o Oct 20, 2013 no need for intl prepaid as T-Mobile U.S. includes voice roaming at 20¢/min (in and out)., unlimited text (in and out), and unlimited data in 140+ countries. My Plan -[6 lines] U.S. T-Mobile unlimited minutes (incoming and outgoing), unlimited text, fast data on each line. that $145/mo. total! . (In U.S. no surcharge for calling a cell.) If a line exceeds 2G of data in a month, pay $10 more for that line. [That only happens a couple times/year.

	(#9)
Stu (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Guru Posts: 1,091 Join Date: 11 Feb 2004 Location: Detroit (formerly Dubai) Country:	24-10-2013, 15:52 Over on Flyertalk's tech forum, there are a couple of people who have used their throttled data and said that it was good enough for Google Maps, cautious music streaming, and email. Depending on its latency (remember it is throttled HSPA, not true EDGE), you probably could do VOIP Over 3g with the 729 codec.